First Appearance

Last Appearance

Attributes

Role

Gender

Height

Weight

Hair Color

Eye Color

Real World

Played By

“Our great and glorious leader who has risked his life and limb to bring Kyrat out of the past. He sacrifices everything for his adopted homeland and loves its people like his own children. May Pagan's light shine upon you all.”— King Min's Kyrat

Contents

Background

Pagan Min was born in Hong Kong in 1966, the son of a Golden Triangle drug lord. Min was extravagant and flamboyant, unlike his father, whom he deemed to be a 'dinosaur'. Following his father's death and his inheritance of control of the cartel, Min adopted the moniker 'Pagan', in tribute to a Burmese king of the Konbaung dynasty who slaughtered his family in order to gain power.

Min had ambitions beyond the small-time operations of his cartel, and began to build considerable assets and a large private army, causing severe tensions with many of his allies, who began plotting his downfall. Knowing that his death was an inevitability, Min chose the small failed-state of Kyrat for his escape.

Kyrat was racked by conflict; a civil war raged between the supporters and opponents of the aging monarch, and Min chose to ally himself with the Royalist forces, who, after a few months of bloody fighting, stormed the palace and attempted to crown the young heir to the throne. Min, however, killed the heir and took the Kyrati throne himself, brutally purging the Royalist leadership of his opponents. Min's betrayal led to the formation of the Golden Path resistance movement who were committed to his downfall.

Up against Min's well trained and well armed mercenaries, the Golden Path, led by Mohan Ghale met with little success. This led to tensions between Ghale and his wife, Ishwari. Ishwari wished to fight alongside the Golden Path, an activity deemed unsuitable by her husband, who instead chose to send Ishwari to Min's palace as a spy in an attempt to shock her. Contrary to Ghale's intentions, Ishwari instead fell in love with Min, eventually bearing him a daughter named Lakshmana, who was killed by Mohan shortly before her second birthday.

Soon thereafter, Mohan was killed by Ishwari, who then fled with her three-year-old son Ajay to the United States of America, causing Min to become a recluse.

Pagan is introduced to the player when Ajay, son of Mohan and Ishwari, returns to Kyrat to return his mother's ashes to Lakshmana. Pagan Min learned of Ajay's passage via the border with India and gave orders for Ajay's bus to be intercepted. The operation is botched, as the soldiers tasked with stopping the bus open fire on it when Golden Path members emerge from within. Immediately after, Pagan arrives via helicopter. Pagan becomes angry with the commander because his orders were to stop or capture the bus, not shoot the bus. He stabs the commander in the neck with his pen multiple times, killing him. After this, Pagan takes a selfie with Ajay and has a bag placed over his head.

Ajay, along with Darpan, is brought to Paul "De Pleur" Harmon's compound. Ajay, De Pleur, Darpan, and Pagan are sat down at a dinner table where Pagan properly introduces himself to Ajay and explains his intentions. However, Darpan is caught texting the Golden Path for help, which leads to De Pleur and Pagan leaving Ajay to himself. After these events, Ajay then has the choice to either escape the compound and meet up with the Golden Path rebels, or wait near the table for Pagan to return, triggering an alternate ending.

Throughout the game, Pagan frequently interacts with Ajay via radio and consistently displays a warm attitude toward him in spite of Ajay supporting the Golden Path, albeit sometimes irritated (such as when Ajay kills Pagan's body double outside of Utkarsh). Despite the fact that they are not related, Pagan often displays a fatherlike demeanor toward Ajay, showing what he calls 'tough love' and, at times, going so far as to guide Ajay and even save his life. This alludes to the time that Ajay spent in the Royal Palace with him while Ishwari was involved with Pagan.

After storming the Royal Palace, Ajay is presented with the choice to either kill Pagan where he sits or spare his life and spread his mother's ashes as he originally intended. If the player spares Pagan, Ajay is taken to a small shrine dedicated to Lakshmana and leaves his mother's ashes there. Pagan will leave peacefully via his helicopter, leaving Kyrat in Ajay's hands, or the player can shoot Pagan's helicopter down. It is rumored that Pagan struck a deal with the Chinese government for asylum and he escaped in his helicopter with many of Kyrat’s diamonds, to where he will continue to live a luxury life style. If the latter is done, Pagan's body can be found and looted at the crash site (alongside the road leading up to Pagan's palace). On his person are a pen worth 300,000 Rupees, a pin worth 350,000 Rupees, and 250,000 Rupees (Assuming the rumored Kyrat diamonds were lost in the crash).

Pagan Min is known for his flamboyant dress, eccentric violence, and generally unconcerned approach even to highly climactic events. His attitude towards Ajay Ghale, despite Ajay working with the Golden Path and making an attempt on his life, is strangely warm and fatherlike. In fact, he seems to view Ajay’s gradual destruction of his regime, and his takeover of Kyrat, almost as entertainment, and on occasion even takes steps to aid him in that endeavour. Pagan himself claims that he wants to change Kyrat and bring the nation into a glorious future in the ashes of the old society. Whether or not there is a single slice of truth in that, as he seems to only take care of his own needs, is unknown. It is quite possible that Ishwari Ghale may have had a positive influence on him, though he explains at the end of the game, should the player choose to let him live, that it was only when he first visited Lakshmana's shrine that he walked in a sane man and came out 'like this'. Pagan's rule of Kyrat is very much characteristic of a ruthless dictator, reminiscent of totalitarian personality cults. He controls all media in Kyrat, which he floods with propaganda, and seems to come up with new laws and regulations on a whim.

However, Pagan Min is very much a recluse in his royal palace, passing off the burden of leadership to his lieutenants Yuma Lau, Noore Najjar, and Paul "De Pleur" Harmon. Yuma in particular has become resentful of Pagan, lamenting that he has become weak compared to the ruthlessness of his younger self. Yuma blames Ishwari Ghale for this change in Pagan's disposition, suggesting that Pagan's love for Ishwari caused him to temper the former strength which Yuma was initially drawn to. Close reading of Mohan Ghale's journal implies that Pagan met with other Golden Path leaders for peace talks around the time Lakshmana was born. Also, in one of his calls to Ajay, Pagan mentions that Ishwari once convinced him to send medical students to Singapore for training. He also admits to Ajay that he earned the worst of his reputation right after Lakshmana was killed and Ishwari fled Kyrat, but acknowledges that his grief was an excuse to do whatever he wanted to do anyway.

Trivia

Pagan Min's fountain pen is based on a 149 solid gold Montblanc from its appearance and price.

Pagan treats Ajay like his own son even though he is his step father. Pagan is very soft to Ajay and gives him plenty of chances.

Pagan Min is not the uncle of Ajay, but in one of the radio chats, he says, "Just checking in on my favourite nephew."

Pagan Min is based on a real life ruler of the Burmese Kingdom by the same name.[2]

Despite being the main antagonist of Far Cry 4, he never actually acts hostile towards Ajay, and several times he actually directly assists him.

It is heavily implied that Pagan currently does cocaine.

The original Pagan Min was the ninth king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma and ruled in the 19th century, though he killed his brothers to gain the throne, not his father (as the developers mistakenly claimed)[3] The name "Pagan" or "Bagan" also refers to a kingdom and the capital city of that kingdom that existed in modern-day Burma between the 9th and 13th centuries.

He is shown to have a liking towards fashion since he was angered when the blood had stained his shoes in the prologue.

His Palace is near to the Royal Fortress and is named the Royal Palace. There is a family grave in the Palace Garden, which is the Lakshmana Memorial.

He is the only antagonist in the series who is indirectly related to the Protagonist.

Pagan Min will periodically call Ajay to comment on his progress. Lampshades include criticizing the Crab Rangoon meal that Ajay ignored (and had the chef and his family executed), meat pockets for all the raw meat Ajay stores as bait (and foreshadows Pagan Min looking forward to Ajay usurping him), his body double Eric (after Ajay kills him), and the destruction of a solid gold statue.

Pagan Min has a body double, Eric, who has been surgically altered to look like Pagan Min and show up for most of his public appointments, including the money portraits and a solid gold statue. Eric is from Melbourne, Australia, and according to Pagan, is not even Asian, but has the correct cheek bones to pose as his double.

Shooting Pagan Min at the dining table prevents the player from returning Ishwari's ashes to the Lakshmana Memorial, even if Ajay makes the trek back. However, he can loot Pagan Min's corpse, which is in a different position than how Ajay left it.

It is possible to shoot down Pagan's helicopter after refusing to shoot him at the dining table. If the helicopter is shot down after exiting Lakshmana's memorial, it will award the player with the same achievement as if he or she had initially killed him. The post-credits dialogue with either Amita or Sabal will reflect this choice, implying that this choice is a legitimate variation of the ending choices. If the player revisits the Royal Palace afterward, he or she will find the helicopter's wreckage, as well as Pagan's corpse which has several unique items to be looted. You can also choose to let Pagan to get away in his helicopter, this will give the same achievement as if you killed him.

Looting Pagan Min's corpse yields Lapel Pin #2 and Pagan's Pen. The Lapel Pin #2 is one of the only copies in existence, and it has Pagan Min's real face with Pagan dead, this pin becomes extremely valuable. Pagan's Pen is the pen that he used to stab the Commander at the beginning of the game, which was dedicated to Ishwari. For some reason, you cannot get his phone.

Pagan's voice actor, Troy Baker, is a prominent voice actor known for such roles as Joel in The Last of Us, Booker DeWitt in BioShock Infinite, The Joker in Batman: Arkham Origins, Talion in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Kanji Tatsumi in Persona 4, Jack Mitchell in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfareamong many others.

Troy Baker has stated that his portrayal of Pagan was partly inspired by Christoph Waltz's portrayal of Hans Landa in the Quentin Tarantino film Inglorious Bastards. He also recalled that he was given the part when a casting assistant walked in during his audition, at which point he improvised and, still in character as Pagan, declared that he intended to murder her in front of casting directors.

There is a glitch where Pagan's corpse can be looted multiple times if the player keeps fast traveling out of the area and traveling back, giving the player an unlimited supply of lapel pins and golden pens, and in turn, unlimited Rupees.

Much like with Paul Harmon and Noore, Pagan doesn't display any actual dislike towards Ajay despite the fact that he is fighting against him, instead he regards him as either his son or someone he feels he can educate.

In actuality, Pagan is actually quite friendly towards Ajay, and the few times he loses his temper with him, he casually disregards his animosity as though Ajay's actions are no more than a minor inconvenience. This is most evident after Ajay destroys Pagan's solid gold statue.

Pagan's face is actually quite similar to Chef Wan, a famous chef in Malaysia.

Pagan is also in Far Cry 5 as a bobblehead and there is a special outfit of Pagan for the Junior Deputy.